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Three bowl barrows on Povington Heath, 400m south-west of Hurst Mill

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1007693
Date first listed:: 04-Mar-1968

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1007693
Date first listed:: 04-Mar-1968
Date of most recent amendment:: 31-Aug-1993

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Dorset (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Steeple with Tyneham
National Grid Reference:: SY 88561 83731

Reasons for Designation

Bowl barrows, the most numerous form of round barrow, are funerary monuments dating from the Late Neolithic period to the Late Bronze Age, with most examples belonging to the period 2400-1500 BC. They were constructed as earthen or rubble mounds, sometimes ditched, which covered single or multiple burials. They occur either in isolation or grouped as cemeteries and often acted as a focus for burials in later periods. Often superficially similar, although differing widely in size, they exhibit regional variations in form and a diversity of burial practices. There are over 10,000 surviving bowl barrows recorded nationally (many more have already been destroyed), occurring across most of lowland Britain. Often occupying prominent locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape and their considerable variation of form and longevity as a monument type provide important information on the diversity of beliefs and social organisations amongst early prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period and a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of protection.

The three bowl barrows on Povington Heath have survived well and contain archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed. These barrows are amongst a number which survive on this piece of heathland between the River Frome and the Dorset coast.

Details

The monument includes three closely grouped bowl barrows situated on a small but prominent hillock overlooking Pool Pond on lowland heath close to the Dorset coast. The middle barrow of the three overlaps the southern edge of the northern barrow. Its mound is 2m high and 23m in diameter. The northern mound is 1.5m high and 21m across. The mounds are each surrounded by ditches from which material was quarried during the construction of the barrows. These have become infilled over the years, but survive as slight depressions 0.5m deep and 1.5m wide. The third barrow, to the south of the middle barrow, is c.1m high and 16.6m in diameter. It is surrounded by a ditch which can no longer be seen at ground level, having become infilled over the years, but survives as a buried feature c.2.5m across.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 21924
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, , County of Dorset , (1970)

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.